Dempsey scores twice, US beats Honduras 2-1 to open Gold Cup

They’ve been drawn in Group A along with their opening opponents as well as Panama and Haiti. “I consider Costa Rica as one of the best teams in the world and they had a very good Gold Cup last time”.

Los Canaleros head into their clash with Haiti at Toyota Stadium in Frisco buoyed by their performance at the regional competition two years ago, when they progressed to the final and only suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to the U.S.

The distant backdrop to this is Canada’s stated aim to make a bid to host the 2026 World Cup, which makes this Gold Cup and upcoming World Cup qualifiers a little bit more high-stakes a proposition for officials and organizers.

When centre-back Hector Moreno came off injured at half time (he will now miss the Gold Cup), Herrera used the opportunity to switch to a 4-4-2 formation and “El Tri” pulled it back to 2-2.

The Americans have been placed with Honduras, Haiti and Panama in Group A in the 12-nation tournament which concludes with a final in Philadelphia on July 26. Frequently asked questions about Fox Sports GO can be found here. A complete CONCACAF schedule can be found here.

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Having appeared in three matches during the 2009 tournament, Evans is looking to play in his second Gold Cup.

At 23, the forward has already shown some brilliant flashes and the ability to draw oohs and ahhs. Floro continued. “He has good skills, abilities and movements and I think is one of the best players we can have”.

It added the move “will have no effect on CONCACAF’s ability to fulfil its existing obligations to sponsors or to stage future tournaments”.

As heavy favorite for the group, the USA will look to open with another big win.

Must-Win For U.S.? They have faced each other in the final five times. However, there’s no doubt that they took notice. I’ll criticize, praise, analyze, complain, etc. But even considering the competition is the same one that essentially will be the same for World Cup qualifying starting in November, one has to wonder if it’s worth the effort. Frankly, nothing less than another Gold Cup will do in 2015. In contrast, the United States of America, their biggest rivals, have won their last four matches, including impressive wins over the Netherlands and Germany. So, no pressure guys.

Panama, runner-up to the U.S.in the 2013 Gold Cup, opened the scoring in the 55th minute of the Group A match.

Another Group of Death for the U.S, but not almost as bad as Ghana, Portugal and Germany, which they successfully navigated down in Brazil last summer. “But you want to get started with three points, there’s no doubt about it”.

“It is hard to say how we are or how we are doing because football players have many ups and downs now and it is hard to give a clear idea of this.”

Last weekend, CONCACAF’s executive committee approved additional measures created to reform and strengthen the group’s governance and management. “These reforms are intended to apply best practices for sound corporate governance to CONCACAF’s business operations”. Of the other confederations, only Africa has theirs bi-annually. “The focus is going to have to be right there from the start”.

But at a time when CONCACAF should be emblematic of great soccer, for many people it represents something else.